Victoria ISD's new budget bigger than last year's, but tax rate lower

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The Victoria school district's new budget increased almost $5 million to cover higher salaries and state programs.

On Tuesday, the school board, in a 6-0 vote, adopted a $100,190,773 operating budget.

The new budget year begins Sept. 1

Last year's general operating budget was $95,314,817.

The increase, $4,875,956, will cover $2.3 million for salaries and raises and $2.2 million for funding that was lost in cuts to education funding on the state level, said Frances Koch, the school district's executive director of budget and finance.

"State legislation has pushed more responsibility on to the school districts," said Ross Mansker, board member. "We're extremely fortunate that our property values are going up."

After the budget was finalized, the board adopted a new tax rate of $1.3090 per $100 valuation, a decrease from the current rate of $1.3226 per $100 valuation.

Of that new rate, 27.90 cents goes to debt service, a decrease of 1.36 cents from the current debt service rate.

During the summer, Koch determined the debt service could be decreased because property values increased by $417,041,635.

"It actually generates the same amount of money because the property value is going up," said Koch.

The debt service is used to pay the district's $12.5 million bond obligations, said Diane Boyett, school district communications director.

"We were able to do this because of the way we've managed the school district," said Lou Svetlik, board member.